


a different path altogether

by exbex



Series: like watching a train crash into the titanic in slow motion [2]
Category: The Royal Romance (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:47:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26294377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exbex/pseuds/exbex
Relationships: Maxwell Beaumont/Main Character (The Royal Romance)
Series: like watching a train crash into the titanic in slow motion [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1910521
Kudos: 1





	a different path altogether

Maybe it would have been better if I’d left you alone.”

Maxwell’s words echoed in her mind, over and over again. And like the lovestruck fool she was, she’d poured her heart out to him on that rooftop, pushing him to confess his feelings for her.

If only she’d followed through on her original plan to bid her goodbyes to all of them in New York. If only she’d called up her case officer the night of the Beaumont Bash and told her she was done. If only she’d taken a different path altogether.

Riley looked across the table at Kiara, and slapped her with an insult that she’d once sworn she’d never use on another woman.

There’s a first time for everything.

Kiara actually had the nerve to tear up. “Riley…”

“I recall you telling me how important it was to have an heir, Kiara. To bring stability to the throne. You were content to tell another woman to use her body as a political device. And then I went into labor, and once again, my body became a bargaining chip. And then my daughter became a bargaining chip. And now you have voted to have my child taken away. You know, the United States government did that to my ancestors. Took their children away as a political move. And now, you’ve done it to me.”

She slid her chair back, and stood up with such force that she knocked it over. The sound of it clattering to the floor seemed to echo.

“Riley….” She’d walked out of the palace and into the garden maze without even realizing what was happening. She could hear Maxwell’s shoes in the grass behind her.

“Riley,” he reached for her arm. “Riley, wait.”

She closed her eyes. She couldn’t face him and say this to him. It was the coward’s way out, but what else was she?

“You lied to me Maxwell. You kept a secret from me. And now your secret has come back to haunt us.”

She opened her eyes, looked into his. “But I’ve kept secrets too. And now it’s time that I stopped lying to you.”


End file.
